First bird flu death in an Australian mainland mammal is a grim milestone. We know how bad this can get
There are currently no commercially available H5 vaccines suitable for mammals available in Australia. We do…
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Putting mice into hibernation causes a major loss of synapses
The most important thing about QIH, though, is that it can be switched on and off…
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The use of AI in biotechnology is changing faster than the rules governing either technology
The recent announcement of novel, viable viruses created by artificial intelligence (AI) was celebrated as a…
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Australia has already spent over $100 million dealing with Varroa mite. Here’s what we can do next
The honeybee mite, Varroa destructor, finally breached Australia’s biosecurity defences four years ago, and is here…
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Microbes destroyed an ancient pterosaur’s wingbone, then preserved it for 100 million years
More than 100 million years ago, a flying reptile called a pterosaur flew over the oceans…
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A philosopher’s take on NZ’s bill to define who counts as a woman or man
The test that determines what gets written on a birth certificate is a visual inspection of…
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Koala numbers crashed across Australia 100,000 years ago. Global glacial cycles are likely to blame
It’s surprising how easy it is to see a koala every day in Australia’s major cities….
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Male bowerbirds hope to dazzle females with bright human-made items
When the team returned to the sites, they determined which decorations had been selected from the…
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Rare male red pipefish carrying eggs on its trunk spotted in Sydney
The red pipefish (Notiocampus ruber) is a rare relative of seahorses and seadragons found only in…
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Mosquitoes learn to link the smell of DEET with a blood meal – new study
Mosquito repellents are key to protect ourselves from mosquito bites and the pathogens they might carry….
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500-million-year-old fossil helps fill a strange gap in our record of life on Earth
Roughly 500 million years ago, a strange event in the evolution of life on Earth seems…
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Whatever the mirror test tells us, beluga whales pass it
In hours of underwater video footage from a New York aquarium, a beluga whale named Natasha…
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Squeak up! I can’t hear you: pilot whales are shouting to hear themselves over ship noise
In the Strait of Gibraltar – a famous marine road connecting the Mediterranean and the Atlantic…
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The science of how fireflies stay in sync
The team found that even a small number of interacting males can synchronize their flashes, but…
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How ‘looksmaxxing’ self-improvement apps are marketing misogyny to young men
A theory about male “sexual market value” that began in online manosphere forums is now appearing…
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An illegal bioweapons lab was found in a Las Vegas garage. It’s a warning for Australia
In Las Vegas last week, two people were admitted to hospital “deathly ill” after being exposed…
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AI is failing ‘Humanity’s Last Exam’. So what does that mean for machine intelligence?
How do you translate ancient Palmyrene script from a Roman tombstone? How many paired tendons are…
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Great white sharks grow a whole new kind of tooth for slicing bone as they age
A great white shark is a masterwork of evolutionary engineering. These beautiful predators glide effortlessly through…
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Red flowers have a ‘magic trait’ to attract birds and keep bees away
For flowering plants, reproduction is a question of the birds and the bees. Attracting the right…
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Why are human penises so large? New evolutionary study finds two main reasons
“Size matters” sounds like a tabloid cliché, but for evolutionary biologists the size of the human…
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The evolution of expendability: Why some ants traded armor for numbers
“Ants reduce per-worker investment in one of the most nutritionally expensive tissues for the good of…
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Why are some people extremely competitive while others are so chill?
If you’ve ever been on the sidelines at an under-12’s team sport, you will know that…
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Some stinkbugs’ legs carry a mobile fungal garden
Many insect species hear using tympanal organs, membranes roughly resembling our eardrums but located on their…
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Why do giraffes have such long legs? Animal simulations reveal a surprising answer
If you’ve ever wondered why the giraffe has such a long neck, the answer seems clear:…
